On Saturday night, a homeless man in Riverside, California, had his hand severed by an assailant wielding a sword.
Riverside police received reports at around 10:30 pm about a detached hand found on the sidewalk at 5th Street and Fairmount Boulevard. Initially believing it could be a movie prop, officers later learned from a nearby hospital that a man had been admitted with severed hand. The hand was discovered next to an overturned shopping cart.
The victim, a man in his 60s, is known in the area as a friendly and peaceful individual. Police are gathering more information, but the victim is currently in pain and medicated after surgery. Although no arrests have been made, the police do not believe the attack was random. They suspect the assailant may also be homeless and known to the victim and that the two were engaged in an ongoing dispute.
Friends of the victim have created a GoFundMe page to support him, which has raised nearly $1,000. The police expect the victim to survive his injuries.
Though rare, sword attacks do occur. Three weeks ago, a man was sentenced to 55 years in prison for attacking two people with a katana in Connecticut in 2020. The attacker, Peter Manfredonia, killed 62-year-old Theodore DeMers and severely injured 80-year-old John Franco before breaking into a third individual’s home and holding him hostage for 24 hours. Manfredonia then drove across the state, killing a former classmate and abducting his girlfriend. He was arrested at a truck stop in Hagerstown, Maryland, after six days on the run.
